Cinnamomum burmannii

Cinnamomum burmannii is the tree behind most of the cinnamon in an American kitchen, an evergreen of the laurel family whose fragrant inner bark, dried and ground, fills the great majority of the spice jars labeled simply cinnamon. Native to the highlands of Indonesia and across tropical Southeast Asia, this glossy-leaved tree is a cassia cinnamon, close kin to true Ceylon cinnamon, to the camphor tree, and to bay laurel, sassafras, and avocado. The whole plant is aromatic, from the leathery leaves to the spicy bark.

The bark is the prize, peeled, dried, and curled into quills or milled to the familiar warm-sweet powder used across baking, curries, and mulled drinks. A note worth making: cassia cinnamons like this one are naturally higher in coumarin than Ceylon cinnamon, a compound best taken in moderation, so the spice is for flavor rather than daily medicine. New leaves emerge with a soft pink flush, the small creamy flowers are barely noticed, and the little dark fruits that follow draw birds.

Woodlanders grows a number of cinnamons, and this one arrived through the generosity of the late Bill Cawthon, a friend who shared cuttings and reported the tree half hardy in southeastern Alabama, at the cold edge of zone 8. That observation is a starting point rather than a promise, since Woodlanders has not yet trialed this cinnamon for cold hardiness in the local climate. In frost-free gardens the tree grows into a handsome evergreen; in colder spots the plant makes a fragrant container specimen to shelter through winter.

Give Cinnamomum burmannii full sun to part shade and rich, evenly moist, well-drained soil, and expect steady, moderate growth into a dense, rounded canopy. Grown for fragrance, foliage, and the sheer interest of raising the source of a pantry staple, the tree suits a warm Southern garden, a large container, or a collector's grouping of useful plants. Few trees carry a scent so tied to comfort and the kitchen.